Fantasy taking flight

The 14-year-old science fiction store, which spent years on Central Avenue before relocating to Albany-Shaker Road in 2001, expects to move back to Central due to rising rent costs.

Owner Maria Perry, 54, said she had to leave Central a few years ago because shoplifting became a problem. The new location is expected to have fewer five-finger discounts, she said, but it’s not on a major bus line. More problematic is that its core customers — teenage boys — are buying more of their books and games on the Internet, Perry said.

The new store — probably on Central Avenue in Colonie or West Albany — will be
charging kids gaming fees for the privilege of spending hours in the store on their
role-playing games.

“They think you’re a community center,” she said. “I keep trying to tell them I am not
an after-school program.”

Perry also plans to start doing more business online. But she doesn’t plan to quit anytime soon.

“It’s a crazy way of doing business,” she said. “But I love the store.”